The share price of Barnes & Noble, the largest U.S. bookstore chain, declined as much as 15 percent after suspending its dividend to conserve cash and invest in electronic books.

Barnes & Noble previously offered an annual dividend of $1 a share. The retailer also said yesterday that it will stop giving forecasts for the rest of fiscal year until more is known about Borders, which filed for bankruptcy last week.

Both booksellers have lost customers as more people choose to read books online or via portable digital readers such as Amazon.com’s Kindle.